The primary goal of this site is to provide mature, meaningful discussion about the Vancouver Canucks. However, we all need a break some time so this forum is basically for anything off-topic, off the wall, or to just get something off your chest! This forum is named after poster Creeper, who passed away in July of 2011 and was a long time member of the Canucks message board community.

What holds a burger together is fat. So right off the bat, skip the lean ground meat.

Ground meat also needs to be cooked to well done. It is on the meats surface where most of the nasties will collect and that is why you can have a blue rare steak with little worries. Ground meat has all been exposed as surface area at some time and the chances for bugs is all the way through the meat. Cook 'em.

Since it will be well done, cook it like you would chicken, get the grill hot, put the patties on, and cook with indirect heat.

Now some flavours.

In Rats recipe, the egg adds fat to help keep the patty together, the oatmeal will add some flavour, but mainly it is a big family depression era way to make the pound of flesh feed the farm. Same with corn flakes or bread crumbs.

Diced onion, minced garlic, rosemary, thyme are always a good start. Don't forget salt and pepper. From there play,Smoked paprika (LaChinita brand is fantastic and readily available at SaveOn)Tamarind (HP is tamarind based)Balsamic - always good with beefAnchovies - yum and you can use instead of salt

Now for dressing up your burger, stilton and pineapple on the burger is my personal favourite, but you can try grilled eggplant and/or roasted red pepper.

Did a variation of LB's stuffing recipe. Used whole wheat & rye bread, fennel, celery, sage, rosemary, thyme, turkey sausage, and tried out the apple and cranberries which added some awesome flavour. Didn't use turkey stock because I forgot to buy it and all I had was chicken. Turned out to be pretty awesome though. Best stuffing I have ever made!

For the bird I rubbed that mofo in butter, salt, pepper, parprika, shoved rosemary into open slits in the meat and then covered it in bacon strips. Decided to pour the extra chicken stock in the bottom of the pan just for fun. I basted it often. Took forever to bake though and I'm not sure why. 6 hours for a 17lb bird seems long, no? Either way, it was moist and delicious.

For side dishes just did yams and brussel sprouts.

Made a pumpkin pie too. Just used the canned shiite because it is just too easy, but I made my own pie crust. An ex lady friend of mine's sister is a pastry chef and passed on a great pie crust recipe using butter instead of shortening. It is very good and makes a super flakey pie.